Real Estate & Financial Disputes: Partners, Balances & Risks

The image of Abelardo De la Espriella is based on that of a successful and diversified businessman, who, in addition to being a lawyer, is a writer, singer, fashion designer, owner of a liquor brand and now a political debutant with the intention of being president.

“That is why I am aspiring to the Presidency of Colombia. Because I do what is difficult, others do what is easy,” says De la Espriella.

La Silla Vacía tracked his companies, properties and partners to put together the entire network of relationships that is woven around his business activity and understand the structure of a fortune that, he says, gives him independence to finance his own campaign.

After reviewing dozens of minutes, deeds, balance sheets and business forms published until December 2025, La Silla Vacía found 35 companies between Colombia, Panama and the United States with which De la Espriella has a current or very recent relationship. Of those, in 15 the candidate has direct representation in his own name or that of his family.

These firms represent a wide range of potential conflicts of interest and are part of the De la Espriella “business universe,” as the companies that comprise it are referred to within the group.

Although De la Espriella’s story is that of King Midas—everything he touches turns to gold—this investigation reveals that much of the narrative around his business success is not supported by his financial statements and that several of his partners have or have had problems with the law. The presidential candidate’s forte is real estate.

La Silla Vacía sent a questionnaire to De la Espriella to find out his version, but through a statement the campaign refused to answer the questions because it considered them “captious and biased.” He said that the questions should be answered by the companies and not by the candidate; However, De la Espriella is the legal representative, shareholder or image of all the companies for which he was consulted.

These are 6 revelations from the “business universe” of De la Espriella.

1. The De la Espriella business universe caused losses in Colombia

In Colombia Abelardo De la Espriella has a pool of at least 7 companies in which their interests are represented.

• De la Espriella Lawyers: Law firm. Founded in 2004.
• De la Espriella App: Provision of legal services through digital platforms. Founded in 2020.
• Cosenza: Manages a good part of the assets of Abelardo De la Espriella, his wife Ana Lucía Pineda and their children. Within its object it also has livestock. Founded in 2015.
• De la Espriella Style: Trade in food, beverages and clothing. Founded in 2022.
• Dominio De la Espriella: Production and marketing of Fratellone Wine, Ron Defensor 12 years and Ron Defensor 18 years. Founded in 2020.
• Mediterráneo Corp: Civil engineering works and real estate activities. Founded in 2009.
• Northwest SAS: Dedicated to real estate activities. Founded in 2015.

De la Espriella App stopped reporting to the Chamber of Commerce since 2022 and Northwest also did so since 2024. So only five of the seven companies are fully active.

According to the financial statements reported in 2025, these five firms together recorded revenues of 16.13 billion in 2024, but the accounting results of four of them – after expenses and taxes – were incipient and two even had losses.

De la Espriella Lawyers, the law firm, was the only one with a successful positive result. It represented 406 of the 419 million that the business universe had in profits after taxes. Two other companies (Mediterráneo Corp and Cosenza) reported the other 13 million.

The two remaining companies had losses that sent the entire financial balance of the business universe into the red.

Dominio De la Espriella, the liquor company, had 552 million pesos in losses. And De la Espriella Style reported losses of 26 million pesos. That company is in charge of all the merchandising around Abelardo De la Espriella, including books, clothing, podcasts, as well as being the promoter of the apartment suite project in the T zone of Bogotá called De la Espriella Collection.

That is, the results reported in 2025 on the performance of De la Espriella’s business universe indicate that it actually closed with numbers in the red and had losses of 159 million pesos in Colombia.

2. There are companies that owe more than they have

Even though the De la Espriella business universe had numbers in the red in the balance sheets reported in 2025, its assets are 19,680 million pesos, about 5.2 million dollars.

This number results from subtracting the 62,958 million pesos they have in assets (property, goods and cash) from the 43,278 million pesos they have in liabilities (debts).

Of the five companies that reported their balance sheets, there are only three that have positive equity:

• De la Espriella Lawyers: 16,531 million in assets.
• Cosenza: 5,817 million in assets.
• Mediterráneo Corp: 943 million in assets.

The two companies that deal with fashion, books, podcasts and liquor issues owe more than they have:

• Dominio De la Espriella: It registered a negative equity of 3,381 million.
• De la Espriella Style: Registered a negative equity of 230 million pesos.

If that were De La Espriella’s personal wealth, according to world standards, $5.2 million in wealth is enough to be part of the wealthiest 1% in the United States. However, that number is small compared to other recent presidential candidates the country has had.

For example, this amount is one tenth of the assets registered by the companies of the late Rodolfo Hernández when he was a presidential candidate in 2022. By then, Hernández’s business group reported 181 billion pesos in assets.

In the 2022 campaign, Hernández launched with credentials similar to those that De la Espriella is using: an outsider businessman whose success in private would be reflected in his eventual administration.

3. The partners of the “Defensor”: namesakes, relatives of convicts, oil workers and singers.

In September 2022, the vallenato singer Silvestre Dangond launched his rum brand, Ron Defensor, together with Abelardo De La Espriella. Although the advertising image was the artist and the lawyer, behind it there are 14 partners of Dominio De La Espriella SAS, the mother company of rum and fratellone wine.

The majority partner is called We are Investments. It was founded in Panama and currently has 50 percent of the business. The person listed as director is Lucía Leticia Ledezma, who appears in at least 314 other organizations in Panama and has been profiled as a name leader in media publications.

The other half is diversified. 8 percent is in the name of Silvestre Dangond and his wife, through a company called Music Dreams.

Another 6 percent is in the hands of relatives of Hugues Rodríguez Fuentes, convicted of conspiracy to commit a crime for promoting paramilitary groups and who was known as “Commander Barbie” within the AUC. Of that item, 3 percent is in the name of Elisa Clara Rodríguez Fuentessister of Hugues; 1.5 percent appears in the name of Invercop which, according to the most updated reports from the Chamber of Commerce (2023), is owned by Carlos Juan Olivella Pavajeau, stepson of the convicted Hugues Rodríguez. His brother, Jaime Luis Olivella Pavajeau, appears in the financial statements of Dominio De La Espriella as linked to Captionwhich has another 1.5 percent.

In addition, 9 percent appear in the name of Monte Horeb Groupa company that is in the hands of Soraya Obando Daes. Before she was the sole shareholder, between 2020 and 2021, two other children of Hugues Rodríguez appeared in that firm: Hugues Rodríguez Pavajeau and María Lucía Rodríguez Pavajeau.

The partners of “Defensor” are also oil workers. 8 percent is in the name of Black Swan Finance Corpa company owned by the oilman Serafino Iácono. Iácono was the owner of the luxurious apartment that the president of Ecopetrol, Ricardo Roa, bought at a bargain price. Currently, Iácono has interests in the exploitation of several hydrocarbon blocks.

The friendship of Iácono and De la Espriella has been publicized by the presidential candidate himself. For example, in this 2020 post he thanks him for an end-of-year vacation in which he ended up meeting former US President Bill Clinton.

Another oilman who appears is Federico Restrepo Solano, who has 5 percent through Divanci and York Capital Management SAS. Restrepo is a partner of Iacono both in oil and mining issues, and in the Associazione Calcio Sammaurense, a category D soccer team in Italy.

And the last oil company partner of Dominio De la Espriella is International Grain Trade SASwhich has 3 percent, and which, in turn, is owned by Petróleos Transnacionales.

Finally, among Dominio’s shareholders there are two companies related to two controversial names on the Caribbean coast.

There is Aniano Iglesias, a lawyer from Barranquilla, godfather of one of De la Espriella’s children, who has 1 percent through the company in liquidation. Iglesias Paternostro. In 2011, Iglesias was the holder of assets seized for drug trafficking from the former National Narcotics Directorate (DNE), designated as political quota. In 2015, drug trafficker Rafael ‘Mono’ Abello said that his assets were “managed behind the scenes,” among others, by Aniano Iglesias, and mentioned Abelardo De la Espriella as “the orchestral lawyer,” something De la Espriella denied.

Juan Carlos Gossaín, former governor of Bolívar who was dismissed and disqualified by the “hemophilia cartel,” also appears as a shareholder. Gossaín has 1 percent through Los Tukos Investments and, in addition, together with his wife, Ana Elvira Gómez, he is one of the founders of the Abelardo De la Espriella Educational Scholarships Foundation.

They also appear with 1.5 percent of the company through Soreq Investments. It includes his sister-in-law María Victoria Aruachan and his brother-in-law Carlos Sánchez Cortés, but it is in the process of liquidation.

And finally, it appears DP Real Estate Investments with 2 percent. Daniel Peñarredonda, who appears in several companies associated with De la Espriella, was the founder. Although his name no longer appears as a shareholder, the company address is still that of De la Espriella’s law firm and the contact email is that of Peñarredonda.

4. De la Espriella’s property inventory is in Colombia and the United States

De la Espriella says that “I owe much of my economic success to intelligent investments in real estate,” but as far as La Silla Vacía was able to trace, most were acquired less than ten years ago, when the candidate was already a lawyer known for his luxurious life.

La Silla Vacía found 19 properties in Colombia that have to do with De la Espriella. Nine were acquired in the last five years and another four between 2016 and 2018. None appear in their name directly, all belong – on paper – to three of their companies: De la Espriella Lawyers, Dominio La Espriella and Cosenza.

They are farms, lots, apartments, premises and warehouses and are located in five regions as follows:

• Bogotá: 6 apartments in which the offices of De la Espriella Lawyers and some of its other companies operate. They are located near the T zone, one of the most luxurious areas of the capital. In Bogotá he also owns a lot next to the supply center, Corabastos, the largest market square in the country.
• Atlántico: 2 houses in the historic center of Barranquilla, a house in Puerto Colombia facing the sea, a 10-hectare farm in Galapa, and a store in the Europark Business Center.
• Córdoba: A penthouse and two lots in Montería, and another lot in Cereté.
• Magdalena: A location in the “Burano Mall & Tower” Shopping Center in Santa Marta.
• Tolima: A winery in Purificación.

Unlike Colombia, in the United States he does appear under his own name as the owner of a property. Together with his wife, he owns a mansion in Miami-Dade County valued at $5.1 million, according to the Florida property registry.

In the same county he also owns property valued at $628,000 through SGS Investments Global LLC. The administrators of SGS are Ana Lucía Pineda (wife of De la Espriella) and Anabela Corp (de la Espriella and his wife appear).

5. De la Espriella has a parallel business universe in the United States

Between 2013 and 2023, De la Espriella has created or participated in 14 companies in the state of Florida in the United States. Of those, 6 are inactive or were dissolved, in one he only appeared temporarily as manager, and in another 7 he or his wife appear directly. (See main graph)

• SGS Investments Global LLC
• Dominio De la Espriella LLC
• De la Espriella Lawyers Enterprise Inc
• Anabela Corporation
• Abeluci Cars Corp
• Abelucci LLC

The purpose of all of them includes carrying out any type of legal business in the United States.

The last company that La Silla Vacía tracked is Místico Group LLC, which owns the Místico restaurant in Miami.

De la Espriella is a shareholder through Anabela Corporation. His partners, in addition to the singer Dangond or the Cali restaurant businesswoman Yusty Barbara, include Héctor Amaris, known as the “yogi bear.” Amaris went from being a partner of the mayor of Barranquilla, Alejandro Char, to saying that he witnessed corruption in his administration and announcing that he had evidence against Char. When the Prosecutor’s Office called him to testify, he remained silent.

De la Espriella also has a business line called De la Espriella Invest to advise Hispanics on the purchase of real estate and stocks in the United States.

In Panama, Abelardo De la Espriella has been involved in at least three companies, but only in one: Reva Entreprises, does he still have a stake. That firm was founded in 2013 and De la Espriella appears in papers since 2016. It is currently suspended because it does not have all its records updated.

6. The lawyer Daniel Peñarredonda, his sister-in-law Lilian Pineda and the strategist Carlos Suárez, his trusted people in business

In the network of people who appear within the De la Espriella business universe, beyond the name of his wife Ana Lucía Pineda, there are three people who are frequently repeated.

Daniel Peñarredonda, lawyer and partner at De la Espriella Lawyers, is known as one of his trusted men. He has held different management and corporate positions in commercial and family companies in De la Espriella, and was even registered as treasurer of its foundation.

“I did raise him,” said the candidate when asked about their relationship. De la Espriella assures that they are friends, but that since he retired from law “three years ago,” Peñarrendonda distanced himself to “do his thing.”

Peñarredonda is close to Alex Saab’s entourage, who was detained in the United States for being a figurehead of the Nicolás Maduro regime and was defended by De la Espriella. Both he and his sister, Andrea Peñarredonda, appear in photos on the social networks of Camila Fabri, Saab’s wife. The images were published by fellow presidential candidate Vicky Dávila.

At least until the end of 2023, that is, two years ago, Peñarredonda continued to be a partner of De la Espriella through the law firm. He is also currently listed as legal representative of Mediterraneo Corp SAS and De la Espriella App.

Peñarredonda was also the founder and sole owner of Inversiones Inmobiliarias DP, a company that has 2 percent of the shares of Dominio De la Espriella, and which today registers the same address as the offices of De La Espriella Lawyers.

The other name reiterated among the companies linked to the candidate is that of Lilian María Pineda Aruachan, sister-in-law of De La Espriella. By November 2024, he was managing the firm of De La Espriella Lawyers. She is married to Carlos Sánchez Cortés, one of the candidate’s partner lawyers in the firm, and is the face of several companies.

Together with her husband, Pineda is the owner of Asesorías e Inversiones Sánchez Pineda, a company that has 9 percent of the shares of De La Espriella APP. In addition, Pineda is the legal representative of Mediterraneo Corp, the Abelardo De La Espriella Educational Scholarship Foundation and De La Espriella Style SAS.

And finally, one of the pre-candidate’s best-known partners in the political world: campaign strategist Carlos Suárez Rojas, owner of the consulting firm Strategy & Power.

That firm has a subsidiary registered in the United States that De la Espriella represented in 2022. In addition, Suárez is one of the founders of the De La Espriella Foundation and owns 50 percent of Churca SAS, a company that has 30 percent of the shares of De La Espriella Style.

Suárez also appears in the papers for the American company Abeluci Cars Corp, along with De la Espriella’s wife.

This is what the entire universe of relationships looks like.